Section 7-1-692. Prohibited transactions; timely transfer of funds

   (a) No person or corporation shall sell checks as an agent of a principal seller when such principal seller is subject to licensing under this article but has not obtained a license hereunder; and any person who does so shall be deemed to be the principal seller thereof and not merely an agent and shall be liable to the holder or remitter as the principal seller.

(b) No person or corporation, other than a bank or trust company, an agent thereof, a licensee, or an agent of a licensee, shall undertake, in the course of carrying on the business regulated in this article, to receive, transmit, or handle money on behalf of another to whom he issues a money order or a similar payment paper; and any person who does so shall be liable to the owner of the money order or similar payment paper for the payment thereof to the same extent as a drawer of a negotiable instrument, whether or not the money order or similar payment paper is a negotiable instrument under Article 3 (Negotiable Instruments) of Title 11 (Uniform Commercial Code).

(c) No person required to be licensed under this article shall purposely withhold, delete, destroy, or alter information requested by an examiner or other official of the department or make false statements or material misrepresentations to the department.

(d) All licensees or agents of licensees shall transmit moneys received by them within five business days of receiving such moneys, unless the licensee's written terms and conditions call for an agent to make an earlier transmission of funds. Failure to timely transmit funds shall subject the licensee to fines and may result in the revocation of its license. In the case of an agent, failure to timely transmit funds may result in the imposition of fines and the designation of a licensee's agent being refused or suspended by the department.

Ga. L. 1965, p. 81, § 17; Code 1933, § 41A-3213, enacted by Ga. L. 1974, p. 705, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 143, § 7; Ga. L. 2007, p. 502, § 24/SB 70; Ga. L. 2009, p. 86, § 13/HB 141; Ga. L. 2010, p. 878, § 7/HB 1387.